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13. Changing Global Landscape (Milestones of Century)

End of communist era

with emergence of dozens of “new nations” came demise of world communism

ended Cold War

diminished threat of nuclear holocaust

marked birth of another ~20 new nation-states

ended more peacefully than it began

beginning: China in late 1970s

after death of Mao Zedong (1976)

CCP gradually abandoned almost everything associated with Maoist communism

CCP still retained political control over country

middle: Eastern Europe in 1989

“miracle year”

popular movements toppled despised communists governments one across antoher

end: Soviet Union in 1991

reformist leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 intending to revive and save Soviet socialism

efforts only exacerbated country’s difficulties

led to political disintegration of Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991

two general failures of communism; measured by both communist and world standards

economic

despite early success, communist economies showed no signs of catching up to more advanced capitalist countries

Soviet economy in particular was largely stagnant (because highly regimented)

forced to stand in long lines for consumer goods

complained endlessly about poor quality and declining availability

embarrassing

proud boast of communist leaders that they had found better route to modern prosperity than capitalists

more well known because of global information revolution

political, national security implications

economic growth (more than military capacity) was measure of state power

widely expected among general population as consumerism took hold around world

moral

horrors wore away at communist claims to moral superiority over capitalism

Stalin’s Terror and gulag

Mao’s Cultural Revolution

something approaching genocide in communist Cambodia

erosion occurred as global political culture more widely embraced democracy, human rights as universal legacy of humankind (instead of exclusive possession of capitalist West)

approaches and outcomes to addressing problems different greatly; China and Soviet Union charted distinct paths

Beyond Mao in China

Deng Xiaoping (dung shee-yao-ping)

emerged as China’s “paramount leader” in 1976 after death of Mao Zedong

Economic

Reforms

dismantled country’s system of collectivized farming; returned to something similar to small-scale private agriculture

eagerly embraced/pushed by impoverished Chinese peasants

industrial reform was more gradual

managers of state enterprises were given greater authority; encouraged to act like private owners (make own decisions, seek profit)

China opened up to world economy

“special enterprise zones”

welcomed foreign investment along the coast

foreign capitalists received tax breaks and other inducements

“township and village enterprises”

local governments and private entrepreneurs joined forces

thousands; produced food, clothing, building materials, etc.

Impacts

stunning economic growth

new prosperity for millions; much-improved material life

better diets

lower mortality rates

declining poverty

massive urban construction

surging exports

China emerged as one of new Great Powers

also negative impacts

massive corruption among Chinese officials

sharp inequalities between coast and interior

urban overcrowding

pollution in major cities

periodic inflation as state loosened control

urban vices resurfaced in China’s booming cities

street crime

prostitution

gambling

drug addiction

criminal underworld

largely capitalist economy restored by Communist Party

Political

unwilling to relinquish political monopoly or promote national level

Deng Xiaoping: “Talk about democracy in the abstract will inevitably lead to the unchecked spread of ultra-democracy and anarchism, to the complete disruption of political stability, and to the total failure of our modernization program.... China will once again be plunged into chaos, division, retrogression, and darkness”

associated democracy with chaos and uncontrolled mass action of Cultural Revolution

when democracy movement by university and secondary school students happened in late 1980s, Deng ordered brutal crushing of its brazen demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square visible on television

Collapse of Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev

beginning in mid-1980s

committed to aggressively tackling country’s many problems

economic stagnation

flourishing black market

Reforms

Economic

perestroika (restructuring)

freed state enterprises from government regulation

permitted small-scale private businesses called cooperatives

offered opportunities for private farming

cautiously welcomed foreign investment in joint enterprises

paralleled aspects of Chinese approach

Political, cultural

moved far beyond Chinese reforms

policy of glasnost (openness) permitted unprecedented range of cultural and intellectual freedoms

media

newspapers and TV exposed social pathologies that previously had been presented solely as product of capitalism

crime

prostitution

child abuse

suicide

elite corruption

homelessness

plays, poems, films, novels from “in the drawer” now released to public

films broke ban on nudity and explicit sex

Soviet history reexamined; revelations of Stalin’s crimes in media

religion

Bible, Quran became more widely available

atheistic propaganda largely ceased

thousands of churches and mosques returned to believers and opened for worship

beyond glasnost was democratization

new parliament with real powers

competitive elections

1989 elections: dozens of leading communists rejected at polls

foreign affairs: Gorbachev moved to end Cold War

made unilateral cuts in Soviet military forces

engaged in arms control negotiations with United States

refused to intervene as communist governments in Eastern Europe were overthrown

Impacts

almost nothing worked out

Weakening of USSR

reforms led to further weakening and collapse of Soviet Union

planned economy dismantled before functioning market-based system could emerge (unlike China’s booming economy)

inflation

short supply of consumer goods

ration coupons

many feared loss of jobs

few Soviet farmers willing to risk jumping into private farming (unlike Chinese peasants)

few foreign investors found Soviet Union tempting

Demands

went far beyond what Gorbachev had intended

democracy movement of unofficial groups and parties

full multiparty democracy

market-based economy

independent labor unions

went on strike (unheard of in “workers’ state)

nationalist movements used new freedoms to insist on greater autonomy or independence from Soviet Union

1980: Lech Walesa (Polish political activist) established Solidarity labor union

first trade union created in Warsaw Pact nation that was not under control of Communist Party

provided workers’ rights by using civil resistance tactics

received support from United States and Pope John Paul II

public support grew despite government oppression

1989: Poland held semi-free elections

1990: Walesa elected president of Poland

Gorbachev refused to use force to crush protesters (unlike Chinese)

Eastern Europe’s “miracle year”

Gorbachev’s reforms inspired Soviet satellites

communism had been imposed and maintained from outside

if USSR could practice glasnost and hold competitive elections, why not Eastern Europe?

“miracle year” of 1989

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